In 1885 the original Till Family Rock Band, consisting of two brothers, two sisters and one son ( pictured above) arrived in Bayonne New Jersey. They planned to stay for a year - they stayed for 5.

Their novelty musical act featured a “rockaphone” (also called a lithophone, harmonicon, or rock xylophone ), which, as the name implies is a xylophone made from rocks.

They were immensely popular, giving over 1,000 concerts throughout the US And Canada.

In 1890 the band broke up. Most of the group returned to England, but one brother, William Till, his wife, and children remained in Bayonne, where they lived for the next 35 years. William Till served as the organist and choirmaster of St. John’s P.E. Church, on 37th street, for the next 27 years. (As far as I can tell this church no longer exists)

In 1907, William and his three daughters, Greta, Mildred and Esther, revived the band.

Today, an original rockophone, constructed by William Till resides at the Metropolitan Museum of Art ( not currently on display.), where it is sometimes used for special events.

What did it sound like? Although the Till family were friends of Thomas Edison, I was unable to find out if he ever recorded them.

I did find this 1936 Pathe short about lithophones.

One last note - while researching this article, I found this totally worthless AI Google entry.

I later refined my search, to look for “ Did Edison record the Till Family Rock Band” - according to Google AI - Edison did not perfect his phonograph until after the Tills stopped performing - which is odd , because demonstrations of Edison’s Phonograph were part of their performance.

If there was one thing I could go back in time and visit, it would be old arcades and amusement parks. Just looking at old photos and postcards fills me with an inexplicable yearning.

The gate, shown in the postcard above, was 150 feet tall - the ball on top was lit with 5000 lightbulbs! What an amazing sight that would have been.

Melville Park was short lived - opening around 1907, and closing in 1910. It had diving horses and balloon races, annual rodeos and Wild West Shows. It had a theater for Edison’s then very new “Moving Pictures”

It covered 16 acres and cost $250,000 to build. Why it had such a short life, I do not know. It looks magnificent.

Studio 1888 is currently building massive 58 acre, movie and tv production campus in Bayonne. It will be the largest such site in the Northeast. Paramount has already signed a 10 year lease. Seems only fitting, since movies got their start here.

In 1888 Thomas Edison invented moving pictures. In I907 the Horsley brothers & Charles Gorman started Americas first independent film company in an old pool hall at 900 Broadway. Originally called Centaur Film, it became Nester Films after Gorman left and the Horsley brothers moved to California (around 1911). They eventually joined with other film companies to form Universal Studios

This 1913 Nestor film was probably made in California - but I couldn’t find an earlier one and it’s utterly charming - Originally it would have been accompanied by live piano music, which sadly is missing here

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Mack the Knife, sung by a street musician, is the opening number of the musical play 3 Penny Opera, written by Kurt Weil & Bertolt Brecht in 1928, a socialist critique of society, based on John Gay’s 1728, Beggars Opera.

It tells the tale of Captain Macheath, an ex-soldier, turned murderous thief. The shark, we’re told shows his teeth before he bites, but not so Mackie, you’ll. never see him coming and deed done, he’ll be gone “without a trace”.

Here from the 1931 G.W.Pabst film ( available on HBO max ) is a very dark, and authentic “Mack the Knife”.

The song soon morphed into a jazz classic. Performed here by Louis Armstrong

and then by the great Ella Fitzgerald - who forgets the words & adlibs perfectly

The song really hit its stride in 1959, with the Bobby Darin recording that was number one on the billboard charts for 8 weeks. Frank Sinatra ( who recorded the song in the ‘80s with Quincy Jones) ) called Darin’s interpretation “ the definitive version - For those who missed my first Substack post, here it is again

A second German three penny opera movie, starring Curd Jorgensen and Hildegard Knef, was released in 1963. It was not well received. Personally I found it quite watchable ( even though I don’t speak German) I enjoyed the bright sixties style costumes & sets. Hair & make-up also very sixties.

The street singer was played my Sammy Davis Jr ( who sings in English). It was a disappointingly dull performance. Nonetheless here it is.

In 1989 I was lucky enough to see Sting in a a broadway production of the play. I attended a Wednesday matinee while it was still in previews. I left the theatre believing two things - Sting was the most physically beautiful being I had ever seen & the play was quite enjoyable. Apparently I was wrong about the second. The play was universally panned. I’m very glad I got to see it, before the critics killed it. Stings character does not sing Mack the Knife in the play, but here he is, singing it anyway

In 1989 an American film version ( called Mack the Knife), starring Raul Julia, opened once again to poor reviews. This time I have to agree. It was a bad movie ( you can watch it for free on You tube). It did have one saving grace, Roger Daltrey ( of the Who ) in the part of the street musician. And here he is singing you know what

I know your sick of this song - but stick with me a bit longer - I saved the best for last - here is the 1988 McDonald’s ad campaign- Mac Tonight

just one more -

A far far cry from the anti-capitalist vision of the original authors.

The play had one other important song “Pirate Jenny”

Originaly sung by Polly in the wedding scene, it laters moves to act 2 and is sung by Jenny Diver. It has nothing to do with the story, does not move the plot along and is best appreciated, standing on its own, divorced from the play.

My first introduction to the song is still my favorite. Here’s Judy Collin’s from the 1966 album “In My Life” singing Pirate Jenny.

A last minute note - here’s a very young Bea Arthur ( Golden Girls, Maude ) as Lucy Brown, in a 1954 off- broadway revival: a record breaking production that ran for 7 years, and a total of 2,611 performances.